Greetings from MIXED!

Hello from MIXED, happening again this year on the top of a

mountain at the beautiful Mountain Lake Lodge in Virginia!

Just like last year, Susan and Paula outdid themselves to inspire, pamper and

spoil us with the accommodations, premier brand sponsors, celebrity speakers

give-aways and plain old fun! Last night, the ladies from Dixie Crystals invited

us to their sweet-suite to create custom formulated lip and body sugar scrubs!

Dixie Crystals has a variety of sugar scrub recipes for you to try. See
them here! You already know how much I love scrubs and bath bombs
so being shown how to create my own at home using the best sugar on the
planet is an especially sweet treat! And by the way... What a great gift idea!

The treats continued this morning with McCormick and Karen Tack

and Alan Richardson, the authors of the wildly creative and popular

decorating books, Hello, Cupcake! What's New Cupcake and

Cupcakes, Cookies and Pie, Oh my! I was on the edge of my seat!

Just look at these beautiful decorated cookie cups!

Karen and Alan have a way of making McCormick colors and flavoring sing!

The good folks at McCormick reminded us how important it is to combine

icing colors with extracts to ensure our goodies taste as great as they look!

Reading Karen and Alan's books is one thing...

But getting to see them create in person is quite another!

After Alan's demonstration, it was time for us to meet Karen...

Here, Karen demonstrated how to tint cake batter to ensure

the inside of our rainbow cake is as colorful as the outside!

Guess what? Karen and Alan are working on a new cake book!

If this is any indication of what they have in store for us, we're in for a real treat!

Look! McCormick and Karen wanted us to practice our own icing skills!

SpaBoy and our friend Michele had a private lesson with Karen!

I ask you.. Where but at MIXED does this kind of wonderful happen?

You might remember that in July I decorated the birthday

cake I created for my boss with some of my dog cookies...

But you might also remember that last year, I attempted the

Dog Pound Cake for my boss from Karen and Alan's third book...

And, while my Dog Pound Cake didn't quite come out the way I hoped,

being able to share it with Karen this morning was a dream come true! 

Now, it's off to the barn for give-aways and a party sponsored

by Captain Morgan! Speaking of give-aways, I hope you will forgive me

for not announcing this last night as I promised... However, the winner

of my Ocean Spray Cranberry and Bread Mix giveaway is Marietta!

Congratulations! Please send your full name and address to me at jcbridge@aol.com and I'll make sure Ocean Spray ships your cranberries, bread mix and new Calphalon loaf pan right to you.

Thank you to everyone who entered!